Daily Herald editorial

Last week’s police report contained at least one incident that struck most Herald readers as a lighter moment: Somebody described only as a young man, using careful timing, raced through the McDonald’s drive through and snatched a bag of food just as it was being handed out he window to its intended customer. Like others, we smiled about the inevitable “Hamburglar” jokes; but we also wonder whether the theft was a prank or, instead, someone sorely in need of a meal.

The reality, as unwilling as many are to acknowledge it, is that about 13 percent of the people who live in Mower County are forced to skip at least one meal a day because of hunger. In a land known for obesity and over-eating, the combined impact of poverty and neglect leave many of our neighbors hungry. The story here is no different than anywhere else in our great nation where, despite being the world’s greatest power and despite the world’s greatest agricultural system, some people don’t get enough to eat.

The reasons are many, but tie primarily not to a lack of caring but to a lack of coordination and understanding. Hunger is a problem that is within the means of the United States to correct, just as it is within the means of Mower County and Austin.

It may well be that last week’s fast food thief was just acting on impulse or a dare. But the odds are greater than one in 10 that he really needed the meal. And if that was the case, that’s the real crime.